This is my entire shop.  I am a full-time wheelchair user and therefore can no longer have a basement shop and we have no garage.  I must work in our living space if want to work.  I have just two stationary power tools:  A Harbor Freight Variable Speed Mini-Lathe which I use to turn pens, bottle stoppers, christmas ornaments and the like.  Having a lathe means you need to sharpen your turning tools and thus the other power tool is a Rikon 8" slow speed grinder with OneWay Wolverine Sharpening Jig.  I use a 35-year-old Craftsman 8  gallon shop vacuum for dust collection with a rockler lathe dust hood. I keep pen parts and blanks in the two (stacked) cabinets visible behind the lathe.  Hidden but present behind the grinder is a miles craft pen press.  Lathe accessories (drill chuck, other centers, etc) are in a home-made lazy susan shown in-between the lathe and the grinder.  This is my entire shop.  I presently saw pen blanks to length using a plastic miter box with a hard back (hand) miter saw but am trying to locate a used scroll saw or preferably a 9" or 10" band saw which  will give me everything I want and/or need in view of my limited space.  One thing I have done and will continue to do is turn "Pens for Soldiers".  I'm working on a dozen pens right now.

Great Shop!!

 

I like the dust collection system. When I use CA, the fumes really bothers my eyes.

 

Like the carousel, too. I made a larger version for my lathe. They really concentrate a lot of storage into a small space. 

Nice Shop. Thanks for turning the pens.

Ernie you really managed to get a lot in the space, it looks like a professional studio to me, targeted to specific tasks.

One question I have, are you able to be out of your chair when turning, because the table the lathe is on looks pretty high for wheel chairs.

No. I turn in my wheelchair. The table IS high but I've learned to live with it. Gotta "play the ball where it lies." That's the nice thing about short items like pens, bottle stoppers, etc - you don't have to move the tool a long distance like turning spindles. I also

use short midi-size lathe tools which makes using them easier in front of me (rather than to the side as a conventional turner.

 

Ernie you really managed to get a lot in the space, it looks like a professional studio to me, targeted to specific tasks.

One question I have, are you able to be out of your chair when turning, because the table the lathe is on looks pretty high for wheel chairs.

Ernie, so you do not see a significant problem with tear out or digs while turning because of the natural way the chisel is now set in relation to the low chair position? Did any of that make sense?

I understand your concern and the reason for it. It was quite a little learning curve when I first started pen turning. I had been a turner when I was able bodied and turned standing up and could move from side-to-side along the length of the piece I was turning. I had to come up with a different technique-especially with the skew - and a few early pieces (notably slimlines) tore out. I Had to come if with a different way to hold the chisel and present it to the work which is not the normal way of doing so. The chisel ends up fairly flat on the tool rest but the way I hold the chisel to get it there is different than what would be considered a normal way to do so If I do say so myself, I now tun out a nice product now. It's just a question of adapting to the new conditions I face. Been doing it now as a gimp for about a year so I have all the bugs worked out.

 

Ernie, so you do not see a significant problem with tear out or digs while turning because of the natural way the chisel is now set in relation to the low chair position? Did any of that make sense?

Ernie, what I just read was all about a man who does what he has to do to keep doing what he loves to do! My hat off to ya sir!